TransAtlantic creates partnership with AtoB@C for its short sea bulk division
Rederi AB TransAtlantic has entered into an agreement with AtoB@C Shipping AB where TransAtlantic effectively outsources all the commercial activities of its Short Sea Bulk division, starting September 1, 2013. Additionally, the agreement sets the terms for the chartering out all of TransAtlantic’s short sea bulk vessels to AtoB@C. TransAtlantic will continue to have ownership of its current short sea bulk fleet and also continue the current charters of short sea bulk vessels. AtoB@C will charter in these ships from TransAtlantic.
This partnership enables AtoB@C to gain more scale and efficiencies than TransAtlantic and AtoB@C have previously had separately. It effectively creates a Nordic top player in the Baltic short sea bulk market. This has obvious benefits for the customers of both TransAtlantic and AtoB@C.
TransAtlantic’s strategy is to become a more dominant player in key markets by focusing on the Baltic RoRo and Container segments. Entering into the agreement with AtoB@C fits very well with this strategy and is part of TransAtlantic’s restructuring and repositioning program.
”Short Sea Bulk is no longer part of our core business. The agreement with AtoB@C enables us to intensify our activities in our two key segments, RoRo and Container. At the same time, it removes around SEK 100 million of unprofitable quarterly revenue”, says Heléne Mellquist, President TransAtlantic Industrial Shipping division. ”Overall, this transaction should be accretive to the Industrial Shipping division’s earnings from day one.”
As a result of this partnership, TransAtlantic will make reductions in staffing in order to reflect the decreased commercial workload. This will affect around 20 people. Negotiations with the appropriate unions have been initiated.
Rederi AB TransAtlantic is a leading Swedish shipping company with headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden and additional offices in Europe. The company is organized into two business areas: Viking Supply Ships and Industrial Shipping. The Industrial Shipping business area consists of three divisions: Bulk, Container and RoRo. The company’s B-shares are listed on the NASDAQ OMX Stockholm, Small Cap segment. www.rabt.se
AtoB@C Shipping is a privately owned shipping- and logistics company with head office in Ystad, Sweden. The fleet currently includes 15 ice-classed vessels, mainly operating in the Baltic Sea, the Continent and the Mediterranean Sea. www.atobatc-shipping.com
For further information, please contact:
Head of Corporate Communications TransAtlantic, Carina Dietmann, ph: +46 (0) 766 472734, carina.dietmann(at)rabt.se
CEO AtoB@C Shipping AB, Anders Nilsson, ph: +46 (0)411 5588 66, anders.nilsson(at)c-shipping.se
Rederi AB TransAtlantic is a leading Swedish shipping company with headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden and additional offices in Europe. The company is organized into two business areas: Viking Supply Ships and Industrial Shipping. Viking Supply Ships, operating within offshore and icebreaking, is also a wholly owned subsidiary of TransAtlantic. Industrial Shipping, mainly operating in the Baltic Sea, consists of three divisions: Bulk, Container and RoRo. The Group has about 850 employees and the turnover in 2012 was MSEK 3,274. The company’s B-shares are listed on the NASDAQ OMX Stockholm, Small Cap segment. www.rabt.se
TransAtlantic is obliged to make this information public according to the Financial Markets Act and/or the Financial Instruments Trading Act (Sw: lagen om värdepappersmarknaden and lagen om handel med finansiella instrument). The information was submitted for publication on August 23, 2013 at 08.30 am.
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